require 'rubygems'
require_gem 'activerecord'

ActiveRecord::Base.logger = Logger.new(STDOUT)

conn = ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
:adapter => 'mysql',
:host => 'my.db.server.com',
:database => 'mydb',
:username => 'myusername',
:password => 'mypassword')

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base; end